Who says manicures are only for girls? Celebrities are letting their boy children paint their nails just like their sisters. But New York moms and dads have been doing that for years.
BY Nicole Lyn Pesce
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 2:24 PM
Luc Brayshaw, 12, has painted his nails since he was 4. He typically coordinates the colors to those of his favorite teams.
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Enlarge Michael Graae/New York Daily News
These boys put the “man” in manicure.

Celebrity sons are showing up all over with painted nails — Gwen Stefani’s two kids, Tori Spelling’s little man, and two young male members of Brangelina’s brood are enamored with enamel — but New York moms have been bonding with their boys over bottles of polish long before they knew the stars did it.

“It was his idea!” laughs Kelly Deadmon, 47, from Manhattan, whose 6-year-old son Flynn first asked her to paint his nails at 3. “There was no gender identity with it one way or the other.”

He just thought Mommy’s nails looked pretty. “I like the colors,” says the first-grader, who decked his digits red for Christmas. “And because it feels weird. It tickles.”

When Staten Island mom Ilona Perchonok takes her 7-year-old daughter to the Allure Day Spa for mani-pedis, she also brings her 5-year-old son, Valen.

“He wants to do everything that his sister does,” says Perchonok, 36, from South Beach. “He thinks it’s fun. He loves looking at all the paints.”

The Midtown salon knows that Valen isn’t the only little prince who enjoys pampering, so it offers an $85 “Spa for Boys” package that bundles the dudes in blue robes and treats them to a pedicure, 30-minute massage, sparkling cider and chocolates.

IRA/ZOJ/WENN.com Gwen Stefani and her son Kingston, who share nail polish.
“A lot of times boys come to their sisters’ parties, and they want to do what the girls are doing,” says owner Lana Bargraser. “It’s fun.”

“I said to Kingston, ‘Are you sure you wanna do pink, because you’re gonna go to school tomorrow? Are you sure you’re not gonna be embarrassed?’ ” she tells PrideSource.com this week. “He said, ‘No, I don’t care; it’s a cool color.’ I just love that.”

Maddox, 13, and Pax Jolie-Pitt, 11, also channel their artistic impulses toward the business end of their digits. And Spelling brought her son Liam, 7, along for a manicure while filming “True Tori” last April.

Most of the clients are still girls, however, and Perchonok admits she was initially thrown by her son’s passion for nail art.

“At first I thought it was strange,” she says, “but I see more and more boys doing it, so it’s become more acceptable.”

handout Flynn, 6, in Washington Heights, loves painting his nails, and colored them red for Christmas. His mom Kelly Deadmon says it's a fun way for mom and son to bond, and she's proud he's not being pigeon-holed by gender norms.
Not everyone is happy about boys playing with finger paints. After J. Crew president Jenna Lyons ran an ad in 2011 showing her 5-year-old son with a hot pink pedicure, Media Research Center rep Erin Brown slammed the spot as “blatant propaganda celebrating transgender children.”

And other boys sometimes can be the harshest critics.

Luc Brayshaw, 12, who was raised in California, has painted his nails since he was 3. He matches them to his soccer uniform or his favorite teams’ colors.

“My friends and teammates all thought it was cool,” he says.

But after moving to Washington Heights last year, the Intermediate School 187 student was bullied for the first time.

“Some of these kids started calling me gay and a f—t,” he says. A fight broke out. And now the seventh-grader has stopped wearing polish to school.

AP This J. Crew ad shows Jenna Lyons, creative director for the company, painting her son Beckett’s tonenails. The 2011 ad prompted a furor.
“Those guys think it’s a more feminine and girly thing to do, rather than an artsy thing,” he says. “I’ve gotten over it. I just don’t want another outburst to happen.”

Deadmon recalls a preschool teacher who embarrassed little Flynn by telling him boys shouldn’t wear polish. So his mom nailed the perfect response.

“I painted them pink!” she says. “I told the teacher that we don’t look at it that way. I think it’s awesome, and so does he.”

Dads are also giving their sons a hand. Jason Greene’s son Wyatt, 10, wanted to paint his nails to be more like mixed martial arts champion Chuck Liddell, who often sports pink or black nails.

“My son decided it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to wear nail polish if one of the toughest men in the world wore nail polish,” says Greene, 40, of Astoria. “Hopefully I am raising my kids to be their own individuals, and not feel the need to live up to society’s norms.”

Martin Wallace, 44, says his son Bruno, 7, also plays with red or orange polish.

“One of his friends said boys can’t wear nail polish, and I just said, ‘Well, you’re wearing nail polish, so you just proved him wrong,’” says the Morningside Heights dad. “My wife and I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Tolerance runs in the family. “I painted my nails black when I was younger, and my dad was very calm about it,” says Wallace. “It’s just another form of expression.”

The terrorists have won. I taught my son never to bully anybody at school and try to help the ones who cannot defend themselves but in this case I will have to tell him to take a blind eye to this bullshit and let the chips fall where they may.

My wife makes me get them every once in a while when my callouses start to resemble an extra toe. The chick that does mine is hot plus she always wears a low cut top so I can check out her tits as she massages my feet.

My wife makes me get them every once in a while when my callouses start to resemble an extra toe. The chick that does mine is hot plus she always wears a low cut top so I can check out her tits as she massages my feet.